Looking for Occupational Therapy Schools near Fulton, MO? Let us help you locate the perfect OTA school for you!

After youstart your search for Occupational therapy Assistant schools in Fulton, MO, you can expect toquicklylearn that there has never been a better time topursue a career as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statisticsanticipates jobs within thisfield to grow by 43% over the ten year period 2010-2020, this is over 12,000 new Occupational Therapy Assistant jobs! The better news is that the averageOccupational Therapy Assistant incomeis greater than $53,000 annuallymaking itamong the highest paying healthcareprofessions that does not require a Bachelor’s Degree.

Occupational Therapy Schools in Fulton, MO

The initial steptowards a career as an OTA is choosing the bestOccupational Therapy Training Program. There are at the momentnearlytwo hundred accredited occupational therapy schools in the US and Puerto Rico and most of the schools accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) offer Occupational Therapist Assistant degrees and Master’s Degrees, with many also offering Doctoral degrees. Before youdive in toselect a school, you might want toconsider all of your alternativesand makecertainyou choose an Occupational Therapy school that matches all your requirements.

Accreditation

Accreditation by the ACOTE is important because you can becertainyou willbe taught the full range ofcompetenciesrequired to bea certified OTA.

Curriculum

Occupational Therapy Assistants work with patients on a wide variety ofissues and disorders so it isvery important that your schooling is very extensiveand not too concentrated onone particulardiscipline.

Clinical Training

Another really importantcomponentyou should consider is the clinical teaching experience. This is yourpractical training, and thisis whenyou will interact with actual patients and put your knowledge to use. Some schools dedicatesignificantly more time on your actual clinicalexperience in comparison withother training programs. In situations where your training program is not spendinga large amount of time with clinical teaching, make sure that youask why.

Class Size

Another thing to think about is the class sizes. The size of can vary considerably from college to college. Make an effort to find out the class sizes at all the schools you are researching. Remember, the smaller the class size , the more one-on-one instructionyou will get with theprofessors.

Online Classes

Taking Occupational Therapy Classes Online do not work for each individual student. Nevertheless, for many people online training courses can alleviatea few of the burdens of being a full time student. Work and householdcan bepushed aside while students carry on their training and online classes providesome flexibility to a busy life.

Graduation Rate

The finalissuethat you shouldconsiderbefore selecting an Occupational Therapy School is the success rate of the schoolsyou are evaluating. Make sure that you find out how many studentsgraduate from the program, what their assessments were, and how many of them have gone tobecome Occupational Therapy Assistants.

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Programs:

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As a regionally accredited, private, online and graduate-focused university, NCU offers doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business, technology management, education, and psychology, as well as doctoral and master’s degrees in marriage and family therapy.

Programs:

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What to Expect in OTA School

Normally the course work is roughly2 years, with the first year being mostlyclassroomtraining and with the second year spent going through hands on learning in a medical facility or private medicalpractice. Some of the course work a student will need to take includes pediatrics, gerontology, medicalterms, and physical rehab. All States that require licensure just requirea two year degree. A Bachelor’s Degree shall beneededif you intend on becoming a full Occupational Therapist, but you will find that almost all Occupational Therapist started their careers as Assistants and earned their Bachelor’s Degrees a couple of years later.

Licensing Information

Following graduation, those ready tostart their careers must become certified as an occupational therapist assistant. Every State has its own rules and specificationsthat are governed by an occupational therapy board, with a few being private and several run by the State exclusively. In Missouri, licensing is handled by the Missouri State Board of Occupational Therapy. Thoughevery State is different, there are a number of requirements which are common among many of them and include the following.

An individualtrying to get an occupational therapy assistant licensehas to be a U.S. citizen, will need to have a social security number and must have taken and completedacceptable college course work in addition to having taken and passed the NBCOT exam.

Every State requires a federal background check , although convictions are not alwaysimmediate grounds for dismissal. A few States may consider processing an occupational therapy license if a written affidavit is submitted to describe the circumstances of the conviction. Additional circumstances including time and nature of the offense may be reviewed and be taken into consideration to approve licensure .

Every State will provide an Occupational Therapy Assistant licensure kitwhich willcontain several forms to complete. Do notpay for these forms from a third party because they can be found online from many legitimatesites. It is advised to take a very thorough look through the forms before trying to complete them. There will be official transcripts wanted; notarized signatures and several States will need you to include a fingerprint card that can be completed at a local police station.

Workplace for Occupational Therapy Assistants

An OTA works with a range of patients that have needs which can bevery differentin comparison to the previous patient. You might beworking in an outpatient clinic with small childrenwho may have food or texture aversions or a hospital treatment facility working with a middle age woman with psychological struggles . Though an occupational therapy assistant hasa large number of job skills, some of the basics such as following direction, keeping up to date with the most recent techniques and learning and using the available technologyare the most important. Finally, a COTA should also be somewhat physically fit, asthere will be many instances of moving patients around, for example from a bed to a wheel chair.

If this looks like the career for you, then take a few minutes to visit the search form at the top of this page. You will be shown a list of training programs near Fulton, MO that offer Occupational Therapy Assistant training. Request information from as many schools as you’d like, and good luck in your future career!

Occupational Therapy Schools in Fulton, MO reviewed by Samantha STEVENS on June 1.

Terrific Source of Info

Thank You for sharing such an informative website. I was able to find great info about the OTA schools in my area and found one that worked for me. I’m now ready to start my classes and can’t wait to become an Occupational Therapy Assistant.